Aurora (Paperback)

Staff Reviews

Imagine a deep space colonization mission wherein just about everything that could go wrong does. As the story begins, 2,000 humans, none of whom have ever seen Earth, are 170 years into a deep space colonization mission. The objective of which is to form a settlement on one of our nearest Earth analogues, which those onboard the ship affectionately call Aurora.

All told, Aurora is a book that poses some very interesting questions about our future and the possibility of deep space flight. It's a book about space travel that will leave you thankful you're still on Earth.

Description

A major new novel from one of science fiction's most powerful voices, AURORA tells the incredible story of our first voyage beyond the solar system.

Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers.

Our voyage from Earth began generations ago.

Now, we approach our new home.

AURORA.

About the Author

Kim Stanley Robinson is a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt and 2312. In 2008, he was named a "Hero of the Environment" by Time magazine, and he works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. He lives in Davis, California.

Praise For…

"The thrilling creation of plausible future technology and the grandness of imagination...magnificent."—Sunday Times on Aurora

"[Robinson is] a rare contemporary writer to earn a reputation on par with earlier masters such as Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke."—Chicago Tribune on Aurora

"If Interstellar left you wanting more, then this novel might just fill that longing."—io9 on Aurora

"Aurora may well be Robinson's best novel...breaks us out of our well-ingrained, supremely well-rehearsed habits of apocalypse - and lets us see the option of a different future than permanent, hopeless standoff."—Los Angeles Review of Books on Aurora

"Humanity's first trip to another star is incredibly ambitious, impeccably planned and executed on a grand scale in Aurora."—SPACE.com on Aurora

"[A] near-perfect marriage of the technical and the psychological."—NPR Books on Aurora

"[A] heart-warming, provocative tale."—Scientific American on Aurora

"This ambitious hard SF epic shows Robinson at the top of his game... [A] poignant story, which admirably stretches the limits of human imagination."—Publishers Weekly on Aurora

"This is hard SF the way it's mean to be written: technical, scientific, with big ideas and a fully realized society. Robinson is an acknowledged sf master-his Mars trilogy and his stand-alone novel 2312 (2012) were multiple award winners and nominees-and this latest novel is sure to be a big hit with devoted fans of old-school science fiction."—Booklist on Aurora

"Intellectually engaged and intensely humane in a way SF rarely is, exuberantly speculative in a way only the best SF can be, this is the work of a writer at or approaching the top of his game."—Iain M. Banks on 2312

"2312 is a monumental tour-de-force that re-imagines the solar system in ways no one has envisioned before. Whether comparing the compositions of Beethoven to those of skylarks and warblers, or describing a life-threatening sunrise on Mercury, Robinson fills 2312 with joy and exuberance, danger and fear, and the steadily mounting suspense of a mystery that spans the planets. This is the finest novel yet from the author who gave us the Mars Trilogy and GALILEO'S DREAM. An amazing accomplishment."—Robert Crais

"Robinson's extraordinary completeness of vision results in a magnificently realized, meticulously detailed future in which social and biological changes keep pace with technological developments."—Publishers Weekly on 2312

" In his vibrant, often moving new novel, 2312, Robinson's extrapolation is hard-wired to a truly affecting personal love story. [...] Perhaps Robinson's finest novel, 2312 is a treasured gift to fans of passionate storytelling; readers will be with Swan and Wahram in the tunnel long after reaching the last page."—LA Times

"Inherently epic stuff... expect interplanetary strife, conspiracies, more big ideas than most SF authors pack into a trilogy... [yet] this is ultimately in so many respects a book about Earth... a wise and wondrous novel"—SFX on 2312